Queenmaker: Firestorm Protocol
by Arclight-Zero
Summary: She used to be a hero, the last of her kind that came from a planet long gone. Ostracised by the society she once fought to save and called home, Kursed found new life in the wider galaxy as a bounty hunter. However, destiny has other plans for her.
1. Chapter 1

**Firestorm Protocol: Queenmaker**

 **A Star Fox story**

 _Subject is an Omega-class psionic, though at a Level C discipline in regards to training. Wasted potential, but can be remedied. Last of her kind, and extremely independent and dangerous. Last known residence is Corneria of the Lylat System, located in the northern quadrant of the galaxy. Current occupation is unknown, has long since fled the system after the end of a conflict. Location estimation puts subject at the Perseus Transit region, near human-controlled space. Other than that, information is scant. We will continue to search and track._

*

 **Chapter 1**

*

She moaned in pleasure, her hands gripping the sheets. He groaned and grunted as he reached climax. The hard thrusting stopped, replaced by slow and gentle prods while she purred sexily as she felt his warmth flow into her. His throbbing felt nice, and it was such a shame she liked it too. When he was spent, both of them were panting softly and looked at each other in the eyes. The dim lighting in the hotel room certainly helped with the mood.

He wanted to kiss her to finish things up, but she smiled and stopped him by placing a finger in front of his lips. Not wanting to give up, he decided to suck on her neck, causing her to squeal with delight and surprise. Despite having a furry body, no strands of fur got into his mouth. They stayed firmly in their place, something he was very much thankful for.

After pulling out of her, he went for a quick shower while she laid in bed. Fortunately for her, there was a roll of tissue on the end table for her to clean herself up with. Getting out of bed, she disposed of the used tissue and went to the bathroom to get herself a glass of water. While she drank, she glanced over at the showers. He was whistling happily, definitely sounded a lot more refreshed than a couple of hours earlier.

Walking back to the bed, she rummaged her bag and pulled out a blaster. She went back into the bathroom, took aim at the shadow on the curtain where his head was, and pulled the trigger. An energy discharge burned a hole through the curtain and struck the man right in the forehead. There was a loud snap as the beam ionised the air and hit the shower mist. A cauterised hole left it bloodless, but the air was filled with the stench of cooked flesh mixed with fragrant soap.

His body slumped down into the tub wordlessly, and when she pulled the curtains aside, she saw that his was limp and his eyes were glazed anchit containing a few thousand Terran credits.

"Money buys you everything but caution, senator," she said in a rather refined accent that Terrans associated with an English person.

Going back to her bag, she pulled out a blue-coloured bodysuit. Slipping into it, she zipped it up and adjusted it slightly by the hips. Despite having not worn it for years, her suit still fitted her rather well albeit being a little tight at the hips and thighs. The colour had not faded and it still matched the colour of her fur.

After getting dressed and pocketing the credit chit, the assassin pressed a communications bead that was in her ear. A click sounded followed by a beep that indicated an open channel with her intended recipient.

"Espada, we're done here. Meet me at the rooftops," she said with slight urgency in her voice.

"Affirmative, Kursed, on my way to rendezvous with you, ETA 10 minutes."

Someone knocked on the room door in an aggressive manner, causing her to turn her attention towards it. There was shouting in a language she did not understand, and she did not have the time to turn on the built-in translator. However, reading the thoughts of those outside the door told her enough. They knew she was in there, and they were out for her blood.

"Make that 5 minutes," she corrected. "I've got about 20 armed Terrans outside my door."

"Making it over there at best speed. Stay safe."

With her comm channel cut, Kursed looked towards the balcony and ran towards it. Upon opening the balcony door, a rush of cold wind greeted her. The suit was thermo-regulating, but her face took the full brunt of the chill. However, the adrenaline that was rushing through her helped her ignore the otherwise biting cold wind. She looked up. There were about 5 floors between her and the roof, and luckily for her, all the other rooms with balconies were within jumping distance. She could climb up, but a misstep meant a 200-metre fall to the valley below.

"What's life without a few risks?" she asked herself.

She had one hand on the balcony railing when a hail of bullets punched through the hotel door. Gunfire echoed throughout the immediate area, causing some other occupants to turn on their room lights. There were cries of panic as well as angry shouts coming from her attackers. One bullet struck near her hand and ricocheted off it and lodged itself into the ceiling. Kursed gave a gasp of surprise and quickly retracted her hand.

Pulling out her blaster, Kursed fired a shot back at the now bullet-ridden door. It failed to hit anything, but it did cause some of the humans to stop shooting when they saw an energy discharge burn a hole through the wood. Using this moment of halted gunfire, she quickly leapt onto the railing and leapt for a balcony that was one floor above without a second thought.

Pulling herself up, she noticed a scared couple huddling in their bed. The guy was comforting his lover when he saw the blue vixen perched on the balcony. He gave a cry of surprise, which also caused the girl to cry out too. Not wanting to attract more unwanted attention, Kursed continued her climb to the top. Had it been a less messy affair, she would have taken the elevator and be on her merry way. Someone must have tipped off the local law enforcers, but no suspects came to mind.

It did not take her long to reach the rooftops, and the police did not attempt a climb to pursue her. However, she could sense that they knew where she was headed. A quick telepathic ping gave her a rough estimate of the number of officers on the roof, and thankfully, there were only 5 at the moment. By some stroke of luck, the only elevator that had access to the roof was out of order, and the only way up was via a service access at the other end.

Kursed grabbed onto the ledge just in time for a police officer to pass by. At first, he did not see her hands, and she was too busy trying to pull herself up. When he turned around though, his eyes immediately came into contact with hers. His mouth was agape, but before he could alert the rest, Kursed launched forward and took hold of his vest. She pulled, causing the man to lose balance and fall forward before he could react. He fell screaming to his demise.

"Anytime now, Espada," Kursed said while climbing up.

"I've just passed Reinhardt Plaza, local defence force has mobilised an interceptor. Attempting to shake off before rendezvous," Espada replied.

"Fuck me," Kursed muttered. She hid behind an air-conditioning unit to avoid a nearby policewoman armed with an assault rifle. "Do you have the missile launcher in the drop bay?"

"Affirmative."

"Get over here and drop it to me. I'll keep it off your back."

"Affirmative, taking evasive action while headed for target destination. ETA, 5 minutes."

Had it not been for the howling winds, the officer would certainly have heard her. It began picking up speed, and dark clouds began to obscure the twin moons in the sky. A thick fog began to roll in as well, and visibility dwindled within a minute. Kursed read the mind of the nearest officer and found out they were not issued with night vision goggles or scanners. That made sneaking past them a lot easier, but if she was not careful, she could bump into them too.

Silently, she went from one hiding spot to the next, crouching and tiptoeing whenever necessary. The rooftop was cluttered with vents, water tanks, AC units, and a lot of dark nooks and crannies. While it provided ample opportunities for her to hide, it also hampered her movements. Some of the vents creaked loud enough that it alerted the police officers. One of them even managed to come close enough that Kursed could smell his cologne.

At about 4 minutes in, more officers flooded the rooftop armed with high-powered flashlights that pierced through the fog. The winds kept howling and a thunderous boom filled the sky. Some of the policemen shielded their faces with ski masks while others pulled up the collars of their great coats. Kursed had a harder time with the cold as it started to overcome her bodysuit's thermo-regulating properties. She was shivering hard and her teeth were chattering. Kursed looked at her PDA but saw no signs of her ride being in the vicinity.

Just then, a beam of light caused her to raise her hand to shield her eyes. She let her guard down, and one of the officers spotted her. He shouted into his communicator to alert the rest, and was promptly shot in the shoulder. The bullet-proof vest did little to save him from the energy bolt, but the fog had dissipated much of its killing power. Instead, it caused him to fall down and writhe in pain. Kursed growled in anger at her own carelessness, but there was nothing much she could do.

She ran towards on of the water tanks with a pistol that she stole from the wounded officer. Several other policemen managed to see her and opened fire. Bullets whizzed past her head and torso, but none of them found their mark. Kursed took cover by the water tank and returned fire. Her shots missed one of them and the bullet bounced off a vent with an audible pinging noise.

As more police officers were alerted to her position, she contacted her ride again. "Espada, where the fuck are you?!"

"Keep your head down," came the reply.

Without thinking much, Kursed crouched as low as she could. Around the same time, a stream of energy bolts shot past her head. It continued forward and caught two policemen in the attack, vaporising their bodies into glowing hot ash. The roar of G-Diffusers sounded like music to her ears, but the sound of another jet engine told her that Espada was still being pursued.

"I have dropped the missile launcher nearby. Help keep this interceptor off me," Espada said.

The launcher was hidden by the fog, but at least Espada's strafe kept the officers hiding for a bit. She looked around for the weapon, and eventually found it by the body of an unconscious policewoman. Her head was bleeding, and it began to pool around her hair. Kursed shouldered the launcher and peered into the target finder. It had thermal vision on, allowing her to see through the fog.

"Come towards me," she commanded while thumbing the lock-on system.

"Affirmative. Keeping targets away from you."

She heard several death cries as Espada went for another strafing run while flying towards her. The interceptor was in hot pursuit and it fired a missile at Espada. A barrel roll knocked the missile off course and caused it to careen into the water tower. It blew a hole in the side, and water poured out by the gallons. Kursed caught sight of the pursuer and aimed.

A circle began forming over the targeting reticle as the lock-on system kept track of the offending interceptor. Within 3 seconds, the circle was fully formed and glowed red. Kursed pulled the trigger and sent her own missile flying. The interceptor immediately broke off to avoid the missile, and it disappeared into the fog. Without wasting a beat, Espada quickly landed near Kursed and opened the cockpit canopy.

"You know it's not good to keep a lady waiting, right?" she joked while hauling the launcher into the fighter and hopped in.

"Could have been worse," replied the fighter's A.I. "Shall I hand controls over to you?"

Kursed shook her head. "You fly. I need to catch my breath for a bit."

"Affirmative. Setting course for mothership."

As the Cloud Runner took off, the police poured gunfire at it in an attempt to bring it down. However, the bullets bounced harmlessly off its shields, and they could only watch in frustration as the fighter speed off towards the stormy skies. Despite the Cloud Runner looking decrepit and dirty, it still held together quite well. Transitioning into space was no smooth affair, but it was at least tolerable enough that Kursed could lay back onto her seat and relax. The shuddering, however, made drinking water a bit hard.

Once they cleared the planet's atmosphere and gravity, Kursed felt lightness overcome her body. Were it not for her seat buckles, she would be floating around in the cockpit. She unscrewed the water bottle and let its contents float out in formless globules. She ate each globule, taking pleasure in the feeling of warm water soothing her parched mouth and throat.

"Miss Kursed, incoming transmission over a secured channel. Caller identifies as Echo," Espada announced over the beeping coming from the ship's comms.

Kursed nodded her head, and a holoscreen popped up in front of the heads-up display. It showed a ragged human man in his mid-30s with light moustache and stubble around his face. He wore a hoodie and a bullet belt, and he was in smiles. While Kursed never met him personally, she heard that he had made quite a name for himself on Ascension. Details about his fame were scant but it did not matter much to her.

All she wanted was her pay.

"News spreads fast on Ascension, Miss Kursed. Colour me impressed. Many of our previous attempts failed, yet you managed to get close enough to put Senator Craig down. How'd you do it?" he asked amidst cheering and shouts of celebration in the background.

"I have my ways, Echo," Kursed replied cryptically while she felt her lower abdomen subconsciously. "But I don't believe the details are what you're after."

Echo cleared his throat. "Yes, no doubt. We've managed to hack in his account, and there should be enough to cover your expenses. At least his ill-gotten gains can be put to good use."

A separate beep from the ship's communicator alerted her, and she brought it up to see what it was about. It was a simple note notifying her that her credit reserve was updated, a total of 20 million Terran credits banked into her account courtesy of the recently deceased senator. Kursed merely nodded and turned her attention back to Echo, who gave her a look as if waiting for her confirmation.

"I'll definitely make good use of it," she said.

"Try not to spend it all in one day, eh," Echo joked. With a nod, he said, "The revolution thanks you for your help. It's time to take back our world."

The video link cut off, and the darkness of space filled the view once more. Kursed sat in silence, pondering on the vast expanse that laid before her. Her fighter was pointed towards the galactic north according to the compass, and beyond the dark veil was a place that had used to be her home. She growled. Memories of the past served no purpose in her line of work, and it only hindered her thoughts. Her hand had clutched her chest at the sudden pain, but it went away rather quickly.

The Cloud Runner made contact with a spaceship barely half the size of a corvette. It was rather unassuming and quite rusty too, its name had long since sloughed away from the hull. She had little money to pay for refurbishments, and the exchange rate between Terran and Lylatian credits favoured the former. The latter's exchange rate suffered due to the wars that plagued the system time and again. Even the mothership she bought had cost her almost all her initial money reserves, and the damn junk was barely functional (except the kitchen sink) when she first got it. If it were not for one generous 'freelance' mechanic, there was no way she could travel beyond the Pelagia System.

Speaking of said mechanic…

"Espada, set a course for PL-424. It's time we repay the favour."

*

End of Chapter 1


	2. Chapter 2

**Firestorm Protocol: Queenmaker**

 **A Star Fox story**

*

 **Chapter 2**

*

As vast as the galaxy was, there was always a region where people hardly populated. Reasons ranged from being resource-poor to being pirate havens. Civilian ships usually avoided these areas, but for Kursed, they provided a place to rest and a chance to obtain contracts. PL-424 was located within one such zone of avoidance as the planetoid was both uninhabitable and a gathering point for unsavoury figures.

The moment Kursed entered the system, her communications array picked up a faint and odd signal. It was like a riddle to the uninitiated, easily mistaken for a waypoint beacon. Having visited the place multiple times though, she knew it was an encrypted beacon signal that guided people in the know to their intended destination. Her ship lurched forward at flanking speed, its side thrusters firing occasionally to keep the ship from straying sideways.

From the (relative) comfort of the bridge, Kursed sat on the command chair, her fingers drumming ceaselessly as Espada guided the ship. Had it been a well-maintained ship, the thing would have been silent. Instead, she had to put up with rattling air vents, smells coming from rusted duct fans, and exposed wiring that emitted sparks every so often. It had been two years already, and she still could not scrounge up enough to even have the steering control reattached.

All that was about to change though.

"Any news on the pirate radio?" Kursed asked while looking at her chronometer.

"Just news about Ascension. Speculations and all, but I think you know the truth," it replied, its voice played through the bridge's speakers.

Kursed sighed in boredom. "I suppose I do. Not like it matters anyway."

Some time went by before her ship came face to face with PL-424. Unlike a planet orbiting in its designated orbit, PL-424 was part of the system's asteroid belt. It reminded her a lot of the Sargasso space station, except PL-424 was more circular and adopted a more industrial-looking architecture built into it. On the surface, it barely had any indication of sentient presence. A quick glance may not reveal anything substantial, but if one looked close enough, one could see air vents hidden in the craters along with camouflaged observation posts.

"Kursed, that you?" a male voice came through the speakers.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Nah, it's the fucking police," she replied sarcastically. "Of course it's me, you idiot, open up."

"Alright, alright, no need to get your panties in a bunch. Sheesh."

A piece of the planetoid's surface began opening up, and the way it opened reminded Kursed of a blooming flower. Dust stirred and fell off the opening panels before being drawn into the hangar bay. Once it was fully opened and the air pressure equalised, two rusty tugs flew out to greet the mothership. One of them attached tethers at the frontal hardpoints while the other attached at the rear. With the mothership firmly secured, they began to guide it into the hangar.

Kursed pressed a button on the command chair, and a piece of chip was ejected from a popped up panel. It contained Espada's A.I., an asset too valuable to lose. Stealing was a common occurrence, and sometimes, even ships go missing. They can have the stupid ship for all she cared, but Espada was hers and hers alone.

Once the ship was docked into place, Kursed heard a loud bang resound throughout her vessel. The familiar feel of gravity - weak as it was - filled her body. It helped her plant her feet on the ground, but it was weak enough that she could leap and touch the ceiling if she wanted to. Staying here long term was a bad idea, she thought. Not that she stayed there for more than a week anyway.

Upon leaving her ship, the sounds of a busy market place greeted her ears. Just beyond the hangar doors, hundreds of pirates, mercenaries, and bounty hunters haggled and argued with freelance merchants and black market vendors. People of all races came together to do business in a way that, funnily, turned from a fist fight to agreeing on a price after giving each other a black eye.

Because PL-424 was located with Terran territory, humans dominated the scene. However, there were sizeable numbers of Lylatians, some of whom Kursed had seen back at the Academy all those years ago. They could not recognise her, she looked too different. Her hair was long and she looked a little more haggard than she had liked. However, she preferred not to be known by any of them, not when she knew they would ridicule her.

Despite having the money to buy whatever she wanted and needed, it was not her current priority. Kursed took a left turn a the market square, bumping past a couple of slavers dragging a group of insectoid-looking aliens. They shouted curses at her but she merely gave them the middle finger and went on her way before they could respond. Lylatians would not get the meaning, but she had been around humans long enough to pick up a few of their not-so-social gestures.

Taking a left took her into an alleyway with a single unassuming door. There was a flickering green neon sign above it that said Tony's Workshop. She pushed the doorbell and heard a loud ring come from inside. For a moment, it seemed like nobody was at home. The comm was silent, and pressing the bell multiple times yielded no results. After the 5th try, Kursed grumbled angrily and left. When she turned around, the blue vixen bumped into a man in overalls and a pair of red-shaded goggles.

"Where's the fire, sweetheart?" the man asked jokingly, his voice laced with the accent of a New Yorker.

"Don't 'sweetheart' me, Tony," she retorted while dusting herself. "Where'd you go anyway?"

"Can't a man get lunch...or was it dinner? Either way, I was hungry," Tony commented. He paused for a while before saying, "You look mighty hungry yourself, Kursed. Wanna get some grox burger?"

Kursed waved away his offer. "Maybe later. Right now, I want to repay a favour."

Tony rubbed his chin thoughtfully with a gloved hand. "Favour…I'm guessing you struck gold?" he asked while grinning.

"Enough to make us rich, I suppose," Kursed replied while returning a sly smile.

"Holy shit in a handbasket, you really did off Senator Craig. I'll be damned, that makes you one of the big boys now...or girl...you get what I mean."

Kursed crossed her arms. "I don't really think that means much, don't you?"

"Well, being recognised means getting better contracts, bounties, the usual stuff. Plus, I'm pretty sure some traders would sell some stuff cheap for you," Tony explained, counting his fingers while emphasising his points. "And uh, speaking of favours, there's no need to repay me. I'm mighty happy helping out a pretty gal like you."

"Well, aren't you the flatterer. So if you don't want any money, what'd you want then?" Kursed asked.

Tony unlocked the door to his workshop and invited her in. "I can earn money just fine, so you keep your pay. All I ask is a share of things you may have salvaged. You know, scrap metal, engine parts, the likes," he said while the two walked to a table to have a sit.

Kursed spun a chair around and settled on it slowly. "I'm assuming you'll build something for me too?"

"Anything but a spaceship I suppose. I can fix lotsa stuff, but some things are beyond me, like that jalopy you're flying."

"I guess that makes sense. I'm in the market for a new mothership, so do you have any recommendations?"

"Well," Tony muttered, tapping his chin while drumming his fingers on the table. "I got to know a ship dealer somewhere at East District, got plenty of good stuff. Not too big, but no pushovers either. Smaller than corvettes, but still large enough to house that fighter of yours."

"It's settled then."

"You can use that there computer to buy a ship from him, he's got plenty to choose from. It'll be delivered to the docking bays as soon as you confirm the payment," Tony said as he pointed at his computer at the corner of a forge. "You can trade in that junk of yours, but I think Albert would only scrap it for parts."

Kursed did not answer him as she was already seated in front of the computer. Judging by the merchant lists that existed on it, she had a feeling that Tony knew a lot more people than he normally let on. Albert's site was easy to find, and true enough, it had a lot of small-sized ships with the largest ones being of medium-class. All of them were big enough to house the Cloud Runner, and they were affordable enough that it would still leave her with enough money to buy the necessary weapons and equipment. So many choices, yet she could only pick one.

One particular ship, the Kestrel, caught her eye. It was a sort of utility ship of Terran design, hardly had any external weapons except for a few missile racks and a Mark-12 Linear Cannon. Not top-of-the-line stuff, but at least it was not helpless. However, weapons were the least of Kursed's criteria. No, she was after practicality, and the Kestrel offered tons of options for modifications. There were at least a dozen external hardpoints where weapons or other utilities could be mounted, and the systems were designed in a way that it could be operated by a single person. Since she operated alone most of the time, this feature was a godsend.

It only costs 12 million credits.

"I can earn more," Kursed muttered and clicked on the 'Order' button.

It was easy enough to connect her credit chit to the system. Since the outlaws used their own servers, the Terran government would never find out. However, that meant that she was at risk of being hacked. Thankfully, the transfer process was quick and had no issues. Worth the buy? Probably, but it still felt like a hole was burnt in her pocket. Once she was done, Kursed turned around to look at Tony. He seemed happy for some reason, and he nodded his head in satisfaction.

"You got your ship, and I just gave Albert a call," Tony said while tapping his communicator. "He said he'll buy the old one from you for 2 million credits."

Kursed shrugged. "It's better than nothing I suppose. So what's next?"

Now, Tony's face truly glowed. He invited her to his drawing board where Kursed saw plenty of blueprints and drafts of weapons and equipment he was working on. Some seemed like personal projects while the rest were blueprints of the Cloud Runner with various weapons installed on them. Judging by the eagerness of the man, he must have had a breakthrough in understanding Lylatian technology.

Next to the blueprints table was another table with stripped weapons and a couple of other utility items. There was an equal mix of Terran and Lylatian technology, and there were prototypes of hybrids that looked like they should not exist. Even when her love for Lylat was long gone, Kursed cringed at the sight of a blaster-railgun abomination, feeling disgusted at the technological amalgamation. Tony, however, paid no heed of her discomfort.

"I've been busy for the past 2 years, and I'm happy to say that I've made several interesting discoveries," Tony declared happily.

"Does it involve butchering existing weapons?" Kursed asked while holding up the blaster-railgun hybrid by pinching the grip.

"That's only part of the learning process. Energy weapons are nice and all, but I'm more of a projectile guy," Tony said while hefting up a sniper rifle.

"Old school," Kursed joked as she rolled her eyes.

The man was quick to drop his weapon and held up a battery that was stripped from a Cornerian blaster. "But, I was amazed by how energy efficient and powerful these power cells are. I'd say they put out enough energy to power a light railgun with a power cycling time of...around 3 seconds. Current Terran power cells cycle at around 7 seconds, a huge improvement."

"How about some new weapons?" Kursed asked.

"Well, I got plenty to work on, so you won't be seeing anything interesting for now; just the standard stuff. But I can work on your Cloud Runner as soon as you give me the permission," Tony replied. "It's no -"

Before Tony could finish his sentence, Kursed's communicator started beeping. She frowned. No calls were expected and the contracts she got were always through her acquaintance. In fact, the only numbers she got on her communicator were of Tony's and a Cornerian gunrunner named Logan. Looking at her communicator, she saw an unfamiliar number that looked neither Lylatian or Terran. Kursed looked at Tony, the latter shrugging as he had no idea what to do about it.

Suspicious, yet curious at the same time, Kursed hesitated for a bit as her thumb hovered over the receive call icon. Taking a deep breath, she eventually thumbed it and placed the communicator on her ear.

"Who is this?" she asked in a steady and commanding voice.

"Someone who wants to help you. You have potential, Krystal, but you're wasting your time grovelling with outlaws," a male voice answered.

Kursed let out a low yet audible gasp. That name was not heard for a long time, and she was not too keen on letting people use it like that. "Krystal's dead, and whoever you are, if you have a contract, you speak to Tony."

"Oh, don't get so dramatic on me. We know your identity, and we're not wasting time on contracts. After all, what we're offering here will make money look like a trivial thing. All the pain and suffering you've gone through...people who put you through it, you can easily 'amend' the situation," the stranger said.

"I told you, Krystal is dead, and if you have something that needs to be done, you speak to my friend first," Kursed growled angrily while baring her teeth at the same time.

There was a chuckle at the other side of the line. "There won't be any need for that. Perhaps some money will convince you to come. I've sent you an email as well. Follow it and you'll find us. Come alone, Tony stays behind."

The line was cut, and Kursed immediately saw that she received two notifications on her communicator. True enough, one mentioned that 100 million credits had been banked into her account while the other was a set of what seemed like coordinates. Her eyes were wide, and Tony quickly come over to see what it was all about. Kursed was quick to switch the email to the credit notification one.

"Wow, that's a lot of money," he muttered. "What's going on here?"

"I-I dunno. This came out of nowhere," Kursed replied unconfidently.

"That much money, paid even before you start the contract? The guy must be desperate or something," Tony chuckled. "What's it about anyway?"

"It's about eh...getting some rare...er...crystals," Kursed lied.

It was a bad one, and Tony seemed somewhat wary of it too. He was not one who asked a lot of questions regarding the type of contracts received, and when he does, it almost always meant something suspicious was going on. Then again, the way she stuttered was evidence enough that any average Joe could tell she was lying.

"Feltrite crystals?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Al...right, but how'd the person get your number and email address anyway?"

Kursed was stumped for an answer, so she quickly turned away. "Look, that's not important. I've been paid to do something, and I'll get it done. Could you fix my Cloud Runner while I go get some food?"

"I suppose so. Look, Kursed, you're my friend, and I know something's up. If you could just tell me -"

"I said it's not important," she said tersely and walked out of the workshop.

It was gonna be a long day, she thought to herself.

*

End of Chapter 2

*

 **A/N** : I've written Star Fox fanfics in the past but I never came around to finishing them. Well, I decided to make a change and finish a damn story for once. So, here I have 2 chapters uploaded back to back. Do tell me what you think, and feel free to point out inconsistencies so I can fix them if I don't notice them first. As always, ideas and suggestions are welcomed too.


End file.
